ARTSY TUESDAY: 2014 OWL LOVER CALENDAR

Something you all may or may not know about me is that I love to paint (I've occasionally hinted at this through some of my posts, but never shared anything). I started drawing a few years ago and recently got in to watercolor painting. I don't proclaim to be a professional in any way, but it's one of my hobbies and slowly over time I've gotten more serious about it. Over the past couple of years I've even contemplated setting up my own Etsy shop, but I've always seemed to talk myself out of it through fear of being criticized and rejected by the art world. It's really hard putting yourself out there not knowing how people will react. One thing I've happened to achieve though with my work over the past three years is submitting some of my owl pieces for an Owl Lover Calendar put together every year by the wonderful Shivani from My Owl Barn. It's a free, downloadable and customizable calendar offered through her blog that she collaborates with 50 artists from around the world on. I approached Shivani two years ago about participating in the calendar and she gladly and graciously welcomed me and let me come onboard. I think my work looks amateur, of course, compared to the other wonderfully talented artists contributing, but its something fun that I'm happy to be apart of. The owl image above is the piece I submitted this year and I thought along with sharing the launch of the new 2014 calendar that it was a great time to finally share my work with you all. I can already see that I'm getting better and better with each piece I finish and I'm excited to finally share this part of my life with you guys. So if you all are interested, head on over to My Owl Barn and download your free calendar today! Just think of how perfect a gift it would make for you to give someone during the upcoming Christmas season and better yet, it's free!